Valve for fire-extinguishers.



H. L zom.

VALVE FOR FIREEXTINGUISHERS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN- IG, 1915.

Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

NWNMF UNITED STATES PATENT FFlCE.

HERMAN J' ZOTTEL, 0F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR T0 PHYAR EXTINGUISHEB' CO., OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

VALVE FOR FIRE-EXTINGUISHERS.

Specification of Letters Patent Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

Application filed January 16, 1915. Serial No. 3,658.

To all whom it may concern: y

Be it known that I, HERMAN J. Zorrni., citizen of the United States, residing at M ilwaukee, county of Milwaukee, State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Valves for Fire-Ex tinguishers, of which the annexed is a com-' plete, concise, and clear specification.

The aboveq entitled invention pertains to improvementsV in valves for charging, storing and discharging of highly compressed liquids and gases. More particularly the invention belongs to that class of valyes where it is desirable or essential to give 1nstantaneously and automatically a laige opening for the discharge of a gas or liquid. A`further object of the invention is to produce a valve with the number of joints exposed to the high pressure, reduced to .a minimum; this is very important when it is considered that every joint is subject to a chance o-leakage which under very high pressure is very fre lient and where a valve with a great many Joints is used it becomes almost a certainty. The smallest imaginable leak would in course of say a few months permit a great portion or the liquid or gas to escape, which would in certain cases be detrimental.

Perhaps one of the widest uses for the practical application of this valve may be embodied in apparatus for storing,` controlling and discharging of hre-extinguishing medium, and for convenience the present patent describes such an installation. It will at once be apparent that a containerl for iire extinguishing medium must be able to .retain its contents for a very vlong period without permitting even a small fraction thereof to escape, and further if the appa- -ratus after a long period is called into action, the various parts of the valve must respond instantly. One of the oldest and best known iireextinguishing agents are those containing or producing carbon dioxid gas. One of the characteristics of most gases when highly compressed is to freeze the moment they are liberated andallowed to expand suiiciently; this freezing always occurs at or near-the point where thegas is permitted to expandl or where' it diffuses into the atmosphere.

It is for this reason that a valve havinga screw stem could not be used in this connection, because it is impossible to open such a valve very rapidly; the gas will escape and expand the moment the valve is starting to open with the result that all available space in the Valve would immediately ill with -ice making further discharge of the gas very` slow if not stopping it completely.

Iii lire extinguishing apparatus using gases, or liquids which later produce gases, it is essential'to discharge and bring 'the eX- Ytinguishing medium to the vicinity of the fire quickly and in abundant quantity so as to completelyand instantly replace thefoxygen of the surrounding, air with a gas in which combustion cannot exist.

To further describe a valvemeeting the above requirements kreference will be taken to the accompanying drawing in which i Figure l is a vertical section through the valve, part of the container and the valve controlling devices; this view shows the arrangement of parts when'the apparatus is charged and ready to be called into action.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section through Fig. l at the line -aand shows the arrangement of'parts when the container is being charged.

Like characters 'l will identify like parts throughout this specification.

Again referring to Fig. 1 character 1 shows the main body of the valve which may be screwed. tightly intov a threaded opening at the neck of' the container 2; character 3 is a plunger or stay bolt held in place by a suitable V-shaped cut,` into which a secondary stay bolt 4 engages; surrounding stay bolts 3 and 4 is a yoke 5 to the closed vend of which a rod 6 may be secured, such as by means of a screw thread; this rod in turn is sustained by a spacer 7, a tubing 8, a fusible link 9 an adjustment nut 10 and a lock nut 11. A thin disk l2 is fused to the. main body -1 and hermetically seals the Aopening occupied by the plunger 3. The op- -eration of this part of the valve is as folstay bolt 3 was suddenly allowed to move freely the pressure against the disk 12 would at once force the stay bolt 3 into the chain ber 13, the disk would no longer` be able to sustain the pressureand would consequently burst or tear and make a large, full andV clear opening instantaneously. To make the freeing of the stay bolt 3 possible two in ethods may be employed one whereby this is accomplished.automatically and one where it is accomplished manually. In the former case the fusible bushing 9 may be caused to collapse lengthwise by transmission of heat thereto which would' permit a slack in vthe rod 6, the yoke 5 and the staybolt l; in the latter case the spacer 7 may bc withdrawn and pulled within the chamber la therebygiving slack to the tubing 8, the fusible bushing 9, the adjustmentnut 10, the rod (i, the yoke 5 and the staybolt 4:. In both cases the tooth on the staybolt Il disengages from the recessin the staybolt 3, enabling Y the same to move freely.

The gas or liquid after being so liberated may be conducted through the fitting 15 and v'tail and are merely for the purpose of closing the openings which are necessary for assembling of the movable parts. A tube 19 maybe secured to the main body l, by means of a threaded bushin' 20, and reach within proximity of the bottom of the container; this is for the purpose of tapping -the extinguishing medium where it is densest and allowing expansion only at the top or above the extinguishing medium.

In Fig. 2 I show the arrangement of parts for charging the container. In this connection it is obvious that the time required for filling the container is of little importance and may therefore be performed through a comparatively small opening. For this operation the fitting 15 is replaced by a suitable charging fitting 21 which may be part of an apparatus especially designed for charging the containers; the yoke 5 is held against the staybolt s1. by a set screw 22 in the cap 17. The rod (5 and all other sustaining parts are removed for this operation; a vent 23 forms a communicating channel between an opening through the charging fitting 21 and a chamber 2i in the main body 1; the extinguishing medium is then conducted through another vent 25 to the inside of the tube 19 and the container 2. After the charging is complete the threaded plugl 2G is screwed home very tightly against the facingl-27 andforrnsza seal therewith; the

n communicatioii'between the vent 25 leading v'intothepcontainerYand the vent 23 is' thereby cut off and the charging fitting 21 may Vbe'disconnected from the valve. As a precautionary measure against a sudden heating of the container anda consequent increase in pressure of the medium therein the plug 2G is provided with a safety; this is' merely a disk of suitable metal of known breaking strength and so calculated as tof break before serious damage could result to the vcontainer orthe valve; on both sides of 4this disk packing material may be placed to produce a hermetical joint and prevent leakage around the disk.

'lhe container with the valve is now ready to be transported to the place of installation where it is fitted up as displayed by Fig. 1. After the apparatus is completely set up the set screw 22 is removed and the threaded opening closed by a shorter cap screw 2S; this allows the yoke 5 and the staybolt 4; to move as far as the inner face of the cap 17 when either ofthe releasing means is operated.

The fusible bushing consists of two` pieces of tubing cut approximately equal in length and of such diameters as. to permit telescoping of the same; the two lengths are then offset lengthwise so that one ltubing projects beyond the other and soldered in this position by' fusible metal of known meltingpoint.

If the apparatus is installed and the tcmperature of the air surrounding the bushing rises as high as the melting point of the fusible metal the joint formed lzlurrewith between the two lengths of tubing will of course be broken, the bushing will collapse and readjust its members until the end margins of the two iubings are even; this then 7 permits a practically instantaneous discharge of the extinguishing medium.

Having now fully described my invention and set forth its purposes and uses, what I claim asnew and wish to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is as 'fol1ows:-

1. In an apparatus of the class described a container and a valve connected therewith, said valve being provided with apassage adapted for discharging the contentsof saidvj container, said passage sealed by ya break` able disk in said passage, a plunger supporting said brcakable disk to prevent breakage thereof by pressure from the interior of said container, a stay bolt havingthe end thereof cam-shaped, said cam-shaped portion engaging a suitable cani-shaped recess in the side of said plunger, a yoke member straddling said stay bolt lengthwise and said' plunger circumferentially, a rod attached to one end of said yoke, a fitting at- H. 1. zoEL VALVE FOR FIREEXTINGUISHERS.

APPLICATION mfp JAN. 1s, 1915.

1,258,296. Patented Mar. 5, 1918. 

